Ricky W. Johnstone

Termination dynamics set RNAPII elongation rate and gate the response to CDK12 inactivation

The paper identifies SCAF4-CPA and KHDRBS1/SAM68 as key regulators of RNAPII termination under CDK12 inactivation, showing termination dynamics influence elongation rate and response to inhibition.

Target RNA abundance controls the collateral activity of RfxCas13d in human cells and zebrafish embryos

This study shows that target RNA abundance controls collateral activity of RfxCas13d in human cells and zebrafish embryos, with high abundance causing widespread degradation and toxicity.

Enhanced efficacy of a specific HDAC3 inhibitor in combination with 5-Azacitidine against diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

This study shows that combining a HDAC3 inhibitor with 5-Azacitidine enhances anti-tumor effects against DLBCL in vitro and in vivo, with reduced toxicity compared to single agents.

Inhibition of heme biosynthesis triggers cuproptosis in acute myeloid leukaemia.

This study identifies heme biosynthesis as a selective dependency in AML, showing that its inhibition triggers cuproptosis via copper accumulation and reveals synthetic lethal pathways for therapeutic strategies.

Long-lived chondroprogenitors are generated by fetal-limb Gli1+ cells and are replenished upon mosaic cell-cycle arrest in the cartilage

The paper identifies Gli1+ cells as fetal precursors of long-lived cartilage progenitors and shows they can compensate for cell-cycle arrest in cartilage.

Molecular principles of CRISPR-Cas13 mismatch intolerance enable selective silencing of point-mutated oncogenic RNA with single-base precision

This paper develops CRISPR-Cas13 crRNAs that selectively silence oncogenic SNV transcripts with single-base precision by exploiting mismatch intolerance in target-spacer interactions.

Stepwise progression of beta-selection during T cell development as revealed by histone deacetylation inhibition

This study uses histone deacetylase inhibition to reveal a new stage in T cell β-selection, showing how CD28, CD5, Lef1, and CD2 coordinate to regulate the checkpoint.

A PP2A-Integrator complex fine-tunes transcription by opposing CDK9

The paper identifies a PP2A-Integrator complex that opposes CDK9 activity to regulate transcription and shows its therapeutic synergy in leukemia.